Martlets Defeat NMH

Westminster took Hovey Field for the first time this season ready to showcase a week’s worth of improvements against a spirited NMH squad. The Martlets opened the scoring just under four minutes into the contest when Olivia Gordon ‘24 took a shot on net, collected her own rebound on her reserve side, and backhanded the ball in the net. Just twenty seconds later, the Martlets found themselves right back in front of the Hogger’s net. This time Gordon fed a ball to Lily Vincent ‘25 from the endline who controlled the ball and sent a reverse sweep to the far post where Olivia Emerson ‘24 was patiently waiting to send it to the back of the net to give the Martlets a quick 2-0 lead. The remainder of the first quarter was all Westminster possession as the team maintained possession and supported the ball all over the offensive end. With just a few seconds left on the clock, Westminster earned an attacking penalty corner and, after a perfectly executed insert to give-and-go at the top of the circle by Hadley Crowther ‘25, Allysen Whitehead ‘25, and Vincent, Gordon deflected a shot to the back of the net for her second of the game. The next two quarters saw more Martlet offense as Gordon completed her hattrick and Talia Ondy ‘25 found the back of the net when both made similar plays carrying the ball at speed the length of the field and shooting from the top of the circle. The defensive unit of Whitehead, Margaret Dilks ‘23, Margee Mahoney ‘23, Sophia Peterson ‘23, Sydney Courtmanche ‘23, Lucy Wainwright ‘24, Mana Shida ‘24, and Catherine Knauf ‘24 did a fantastic job keeping the ball in the attacking end and transferring the ball across the field to hold possession and open up space upfield. Late in the third quarter, NMH capitalized on a quick transition ball and scored a nice goal by finding a player alone on the back post to bring the score to 5-1. The fourth quarter saw many Westminster players finding their footing on the field. Liza Merrill ‘25, Pippa Jiranek ‘26, Kate Epke ‘27, and Gigi Filippetti ‘26 all made great contributions to the forward unit and Caroline Justicz ‘26 added a sixth goal for the Martlets in the fourth quarter when NMH starting putting pressure on the Westminster defense and adding two more goals of their own. Cassie Goundrey ‘24 and Hannah Maltby ‘26 teamed up in the net to earn the 6-3 win. Justicz passed the Player of the Game hat on to Whitehead for her outstanding work controlling the midfield. The Martlets have a busy week next week as they take on Kent on Wednesday at home before hitting the road for Pomfret and Choate Friday and Saturday.